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Part
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Asset Allocation Games, Part 1
Top games, tools, websites and simulation software that teach asset allocation and stock investment to teenagers include the Stock Market Game, Investopedia Simulator, and How the Market Works. A summary of our findings and our research strategy are detailed below. Additionally, all the information has been compiled in rows 3-5 of the attached spreadsheet.
EXAMPLE #1: HOW THE MARKET WORKS AND PERSONAL FINANCIAL LABS
Overview
- A stock market and investment game that offers fundamental knowledge of stock trade through investment and trade simulations, which covers several areas like ETFs, global and United States stocks, mutual funds and commodities.
- It also has a premium version called the Personal Financial Labs which is suitable for students.
Metrics of Success
- Number of Users: Used by over 500,000 schools, investors, and financial professionals
- Popularity: The most popular free stock market game.
- Features: Suitable for all levels from beginners to advanced.
- Website.
Pros
- Real-time game with real-time prices.
- Ideal for beginners as well as sophisticated investment and trade simulations which cover several areas like ETFs, global and United States stocks, mutual funds and commodities.
- Provides a strong foundation in the stock market.
- It provides the possibility of generating custom competitions and investing scenarios.
- Offers articles, quotes, analyst ratings, financial statements, news, financial calculators, in-built lesson guides for teachers, educative videos and so much more.
Cons
- More advanced features are behind the paywall.
EXAMPLE #2: INVESTOPEDIA STOCK SIMULATOR
Overview
- It is an investment simulation game suitable for beginners and other levels of players, which offers users the option to customize games and guides to teach investment and stock trading.
Metrics of Success
- Number of Users: Over 700,000 users.
- Press Coverage and Reviews: One of the most famous investment simulators.
- Website.
Pros
- Users can play the game for free.
- Different learning levels including beginner.
- Include guides on lots of financial topics.
- Users can customize games to include margin trade, commission.
Cons
- The trade is not in real-time, it experiences a 15-minute lag.
- More advanced features are behind a paywall.
- Several ads and reminders asking users to upgrade for paid features.
EXAMPLE #3: THE STOCK MARKET GAME
Overview
- The Stock Market Game is a game that teaches investment, microeconomics, stock trading and other related lessons to children in grades 4 - 12 in all 50 states.
Metrics of Success
- Number of Users: 600,000 students and 15,000 teachers.
- Press Coverage and Review: According to a press release by SIMFA, the Stock Market Game has been declared the only program that increased the Jumpstart Coalition’s test scores in financial literacy among high school students.
- Popularity: More than 10,000,000 students have used the game since 1977.
- Other Metrics of Success: Professionals like Rebecca Pavese recommend the game for students.
- Website.
Pros
- Suitable for children.
- Does not require additional permissions.
- Suitable for beginners.
Cons
- The mobile version of the game has been experiencing several technical issues including unresponsive interface, difficulty to register and log in and frequent crashes.
RESEARCH STRATEGY
Strategy #1
To provide sufficient information to answer the client's question, the research team began by looking for precompiled press releases, articles, industry reports, featured stories, publications and the like on the top and popular games, websites, tools, or simulation software that teach about asset allocation. We leveraged reputable databases, news providers, and other relevant sites like MarketWatch, Deloitte, Forbes, Investopedia, Pew Research, the New York Times, and so on. We found some games like Chasing Returns (The Asset Allocation Game) and the game, but there was neither information as to their success metrics in the United States particularly nor clear success metrics for the teenage group.
Strategy #2
Secondly, we switched to looking for articles, press releases, featured stories, and other related data points on the best methods used to teach teenagers asset allocation. With this, we expected to find games, simulation apps, software, and other relevant tools which we could carry out analyze extensively to obtain the information required and confirm their popularity. For this, we utilized trusted websites, databases and the like from professionals like those mentioned above and more. This provided more information on investment, stock market and money management tools than asset allocation. Only a few tidbits of advice and the like were directly related to asset allocation.
Strategy #3
Thirdly, we decided to consider the top financial games based on relevant success metrics. We hoped to find games among the list that were directly related to asset allocation and proceed to analyze each of them for our list. We leveraged reputable databases and industry websites like Game Informer, GameRadar, Metacritic, GameSpot, Deloitte, MarketWatch, and Inc amongst others. Again, this generated more information on investment, stock market and money management tools than asset allocation.
Strategy #4
Then we looked into the example given, iWealth Asset Allocation Game in order to search for similar games and compare top metrics. We leveraged reputable databases, company and product overview tools like Bloomberg, SimilarWeb, Google Play, Apple App Store, and so on. This also was not successful because although we found more popular and better-rated games, tools and apps like the game Rich Portfolios and The Wealth, despite our careful analysis, there was neither information as to their success metrics in the United States particularly, nor any tangibly clear success metrics. This deduction was due to the fact that most reviews for these games were from non-American users and the number of downloads hasn't exceeded 2000.
Our previous strategies showed that more information may be available on investment and stock market tools, games, and simulation software than asset allocation. Therefore, we dug deep into the concept of asset allocation to establish the direct relationship between asset allocation, stock market, and investment. From the information provided by several sources including Investor.gov and Investopedia, we were made to understand that asset allocation entails sharing investments among various assets which include stocks, cash, and bonds. From this, we could conclude that stock investment sharing could be used to replace asset allocation without being incorrect. Therefore, we proceeded to repeat the strategies above for investment instead of asset allocation. This strategy was very successful and it provided us with sufficient information from which we put together our list as presented. However, we could not find the pros and cons of the games.
After locating the games on our list, we focused on obtaining the pros and cons of each. We tried looking for product overviews, reviews, ratings or profiles on reputable databases and industry sites including ConsumerReports.org, Yahoo Finance, Top Ten Reviews, TrustRadius, and so on. We did not find any precomputed information on the pros and cons. Therefore, we resorted to extracting pros and cons from other sources like blogs, forums, and other reputable sources. We searched for positive and negative views on these games from their descriptions and customers’ feedback. From here, we picked the most recurring disadvantages as cons and advantages or positive features as pros.
We were unable to satisfy the research criteria for asset allocation. Therefore, we decided to dive into asset allocation for other suitable words and concepts that directly relate to the concept. We prepared our findings as presented in rows 3-5 of the attached spreadsheet.